Indian motorcycle exhibit to open at AACA Museum in Hershey

Display includes vintage machines, art and clothing of various eras.

HERSHEY >> If you enjoy motorcycles, especially the vintage ones, you'll have a chance to see some of the early Indian machines at the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum in Hershey. The museum will open a new exhibit, "Indian Nation: The Indian Motorcycle and America," starting Friday. The exhibit will run through Oct. 24.

"Indian motorcycles are coming back," said Nancy Gates, Director of Marketing & Publicity. "Polaris Industries has bought the company and so there is a re-introduction of the Indian motorcycles for 2014, so we thought that was a nice takeoff to do a vintage display."

Gates said the museum also is hoping to get one of the new motorcycles for its display.

The exhibit will include more than 20 motorcycles from a 1903 Indian (u/r) to a 1916 4-valve single, board-track racer to a 1957 Apache. The exhibit also features posters, motorcycle clothing, and paintings by David Uhl, renowned for his Harley-Davidson motorcycle art.

"He had given us some of his art to display here in the exhibit. These are specific pieces to the Indian brand," Gates added.

David Russell, who is the guest curator for the exhibit, said he has been interested in vintage motorcycles since he was young.

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"I was trained as an illustrator and I have been sensitive to the looks of older motorcycles," he said. "Nowadays, it's hard to tell one motorcycle from the other in many cases. Back when these motorcycles were made, they looked different. Even motorcycles from a different country like Spain looked different. It was painted fiery colors. German motorcycles were very Teutonic, very severe in their design, squared off."

Motorcycles can tell a lot about the time in which they were made, Russell said.

Tom Border, facilities manager at the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum, wheels a 1912 Indian Twin motorcycle past Indian motorcycle paintings by renowned artist David Uhl on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 as the museum prepares for the opening of "Indian Nation: The Indian Motorcycle and America." The paintings (l-r) no name, "Lone Ranger" and "Before the Bricks." Jeremy Long -- Lebanon Daily News

"One way of looking at these motorcycles is as a piece of material culture. There's more to it than just the object," he said.

In addition to the engineering in the motorcycle, it can tell us something about the culture, the economics, and the aesthetics of the time, he said. For instance, some people think motorcycles were a cheaper form of transportation compared to an automobile, he said. But that wasn't always the case.

"In the 1920s, a motorcycle wasn't that much cheaper in cost than a car," he said. "In some ways, very early motorcycles are something of a gentleman's mount. Initially, they were expensive, $200 to $300."

The gas tank of a 1939 Indian Four Motorcycle on display at the Antique Automobile Club of America on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 as the musuem prepares for the opening of "Indian Nation: The Indian Motorcycle and America". Jeremy Long -- Lebanon Daily News
Jeremy Long

The story of the Indian Motorcycle Company mirrors the history and attitudes of America, Russell said. It was established by two young men: George Hendee, an American bicycle racer and builder, and Oscar Hedstrom, a Swedish immigrant and machinist, he said. They met in 1899 when Hendee noticed a motorized bicycle that Hedstrom had modified. The two men developed a plan to form a company and produce their own moto-cycle in 1901, he said.

"They only make a few bikes that year and they're basically demonstrators," Russell said. "In 1902, production starts to crank up and, depending on who you read, there might be several hundred motorcycles made. In 1903 they really crank up and I think they produce well over a thousand motorcycles."

Indian became the premier motorcycle around the world, Russell said.

"Indian came up with a four-valve head years before Harley-Davidson," Russell said. "That made a lot of difference. A four-valve head was a more powerful engine than the two-valve."

At the same time, Harley-Davidson is making its motorcycles. The two companies would compete throughout the century, Russell noted.

Indian had a reputation for quality and seemed to be the favorite of racers for some years, Russell said.

It's the choice for Central Pennsylvania Hall of Fame racer William "Butch" Lineaweaver of Lebanon, who started riding bikes in 1905, raced Indian motorcycles, breaking records in the 1910s and 1920s.

Russell said the exhibit includes some renowned motorcycles, including what is believed to be the oldest un-restored Indian bike from 1903, a 1939 four-cyclinder unrestored bike, one once owned by Edward Dupont and Harrisburg-area racer Bob Markey's original 1940 Scout.

Russell said Hedstrom selected the name of his company to signify a connection to America.

"They wanted to remind buyers that Indian was an entirely American product. They also wanted to bring up the idea of a pioneer tradition," he said. "They do very well very quickly. It brings up that rags to riches story."

The museum is located just off Route 39, one mile west of Hersheypark Drive in Hershey. Regular admission $10, seniors age 61 and older $9, juniors age 4-12 $7. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call 717-566-7100 or visit www.aacamuseum.org/events/news-room/.

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